


Two old Ninja and the Death Tournament that Brought them Back Together

by NevaRYadL



Series: The Rise, Fall and Rise again of Overwatch, Otherwise Known as Gaywatch [5]
Category: Mortal Kombat (Video Games), Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: And if I get shit over that I will go fucking fearl OwO, Angst, Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, I'm sick of y'all transphobia but OFF I GO, M/M, Mild Language, Oral Sex, Redemption, Sort Of, Sort of? - Freeform, Temperature Play, Trans Male Character, Trans Reaper | Gabriel Reyes, Trans Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, idk I've never done a crossover before so press F lads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 19:55:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19837429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NevaRYadL/pseuds/NevaRYadL
Summary: Twenty years ago, Special Forces was betrayed and many souls were lost. Now, there is a chance to get them back. But it requires entering an ancient tournament. Mortal Kombat.Mine and kingofthesebones' contribution to the reverse reaper76bigbang!





	Two old Ninja and the Death Tournament that Brought them Back Together

**Author's Note:**

> My contributions to the reverse reaper76bigbang along with the ever wonderful and amazing kingofthesebones!
> 
> Basically a Mortal Kombat au, I tried to get everything to fit but a lot of stuff got tweaked or cut to make it work, like some characters just don't show up at all and ages have been tweaked. It was a blast to do and it was awesome working with my good bro <3
> 
> WARNING: Soldier 76/Reaper, anguish, blood and violence  
> NSFW WARNING: Trans Gabriel Reyes, Trans Jack Morrison, temperature play (sort of), oral sex, masturbation+oral sex

Mortal Kombat.

A time honored tradition from even the young age of Earthrealm, of all the realms. A way to show off the might of the warriors of realms, often before the ruler of one realm, traditionally before the ruler or Kahn of Outworld. Some of these tournaments are rather fatal to the kombatants, as the name implies, some are bloodless. A way to show off before the gods and the Elder Gods and the Titans looking down boredly at the realms beneath them.

However, the last tournament quickly derailed the calm if the realms and nearly destroyed the realms as everyone knew them.

An evil sorceress by the name of Moira, master in black and vile magic and necromancy, bound herself to a fallen Elder God by the name of Talon. Many years ago, Talon was cast out by the gods and later killed in a fight with the god of thunder, Hanzo, and his brother and god of wind, Genji. However, this fallen god’s black consciousness survived and sought out loyal servants like Moira to bring it back.

And she used the tournament to do so.

First, she had to get rid of the fighters that could kill her fallen god. When the kombatants decided to have a bloodless tournament, she set about sicing them on each other with vicious intent. First, she kidnapped one young kombatant named Amélie and brainwashed her and made her into a sleeper agent before returning her. From there, Amélie made it to Shirai-Ryu headquarters and slaughtered the lot before returning to her team, none the wiser because of her brainwashing. 

This in turn broke the mind of a young Shirai-Ryu warrior named Gabriel Reyes, who went mad with rage. When Moira planted enough fake evidence to pin it on the Lin Kuei, in particular, a Lin Kuei warrior named Jack Morrison, Gabriel aimed his unholy fury at him. They became the infamous Scorpion and Sub-Zero rivalry started.

When Earthrealm managed to get a win in despite the rifling, Moira resurrected a dead queen of a long former dead Kahn and brainwashed her as well before greatly enhancing her powers and sicing her on the greatly weakened Earthrealm team. The queen, ironically known as Mercy in her time, slaughtered most of the team. One warriors managed to end her bloodbath by sacrificing his own life.

Drawing on their last reserves of strength, the remaining Earthrealm warriors hunted Moira down and destroyed the artifact that she was going to use to bring back Talon and sent her fleeing towards the safety of Netherrrealm. Soon after, the Kahn she served, was killed and replaced by a new Kahn.

Weakened and mourning, Earthrealm hardly called their victory thus and returned to their realm. Unbeknownst to them, Moira took the dead souls of the fallen warriors and claimed them as Revenants. Powerful undead warriors completely in her control, summoning to her realm and keeping hold of them.

For years, Earthrealm mourn their undead loved ones, unable to do anything with Moira’s grip on their souls and unable to face the possible consequences of a new tournament.

Time both remained still and forever, slowly and agonizingly ticked onwards.

* * *

Twenty years since years since that fateful tournament…

* * *

“This way.”

“Brother, are you sure about this?”

“Yes, how else are we going to free the souls of the los--”

“Nah, not that. I meant frigid grump ass back there, are you sure about bringing him?” Genji said, jerking his head towards the Lin Kuei warrior trailing behind them a way. Walking laboriously across Netherrealm rocky landscape with the emissary for Mako Kahn beside him.

“Morrison is the one that persuaded Earthrealm to persuade me,” Hanzo grumbled, forging ahead while Genji used his wind powers to lightly bounce easily across the rocky landscape. “Besides that, he was also the one to get us an audience with Mako Kahn for our plan. And perhaps if we can show off a few of our warriors, Moira will be more inclined to be incited into action.”

“I understand, it’s important to get the Reverents back. I get that… but why a tournament? The last one kinda went to shit, remember?” Genji pointed out. “It’s the reason… that you know… Moira was able to steal our friends?”

“I know… For Special Forces and the two clans’ forces to be betrayed like that… and so many to have fallen and now be trapped by Moira’s black magic… but how else are we to gain them back?”

“Steal them?”

“She could obliterate their trapped souls and truly kill them. These people are merely tools to her, objects to be used. If she feels like being greedy or vicious she can discard them at a whim. We need to get her to cave into her pride and make a foolish mistake by agreeing to this tournament so we can win those people back. We need to be smart about this, Genji.”

“... Okay but did we have to bring the cowboy from the eighteen hundreds with us?” Genji groaned.

“Mako Kahn insisted,” Hanzo groaned as well before turning to shout over his shoulder. “Are you two well?”

“Peachy!” The neigh immortal cowboy of Mako Kahn’s realm shouted back. He had a cigar gritted between his teeth, likely lit from one of the man hell fires littering the landscape. For a moment, Hanzo was almost grateful that the man was technically immortal as he was sure that he was the combo cigar and hell fire would kill the average human.

“Sub-Zero?” Genji called back.

The white haired man did not answer and honestly neither of the gods expected him too. Instead he kept marching on, puffs of clouds escaping the mask on his face as the cryomancers naturally icy breath escaped into the hot air of Netherrealm. When his heavy boots hit the ground, a layer of frost was left behind and quickly melted by the heat of Netherrealm.

The four kept marching through the hellish landscape of dead browns, greys and blacks accented by fissures and cracks of heat and lava just underneath their feet. The screams of damned and trapped souls from years and years of dark wizardry and various dark curses and other black torments, resonated around them. The hollowed screeches and heavy breathing of demons thankfully remained distant, likely avoiding the wind and thunder gods, knowing their limits. Though occasionally, Mako Kahn’s emissary ‘accidently’ let loose some bullets from his peacekeeper with a wiry smile that said otherwise.

Nothing of note happened for the entire length of journey between there and the doors of Moira’s castle.

The menacing structure, once the home of the terror and fallen Elder God, Talon, now served as the base of Moira. A structure of twisted marrow and cemented bones from fallen creatures, now there were almost cancerous spikes of dead brown rocks jutting from one pristine dark surfaces. Likely an aesthetic choice of Moira’s given her takeover of the base. Hanzo sneered at it as Genji used his wind powers to knock a boulder against a nearby gong to let the witch know that they were there to meet her.

“Remember. You are both here to intimidate, my brother and I shall speak,” Hanzo said as they waited for the doors to open.

“Righty-o, boss man,” McCree drawled out.

Morrison crossed his arms over his chest and a rather large cloud of cold air escaped his mask. A sigh but not a disagreement.

When the doors open, Genji let out a small pained noise.

Torbjorn, his skin grey with cracks of hell fire like the landscape of Netherrealm, stood there with hellfire colored eyes that spoke of no free will. Hanzo’s jaw clenched tight and sparks of electricity danced across his skin as his rage flared. Of course Moira would taunt them like this, sending one of their lost friends to do something like this.

“Mr. Lindholm, please lead us to Moira,” Hanzo said through gritted teeth.

Torbjorn turned around mechanically, leading the way deep inside of moira’s castle. Deeper inside the once gothic horror nightmare, it looked like Moira had taken over it quite thoroughly and many structures had been demolished in favor of cases upon cases of books, notebooks, papers and writing things. Not to mention the cases of things that could have only been for her twisted experiments, vials and jars and encased…. ‘Samples’.

The witch herself was down a few levels and was almost nonchalantly stirring a pot of something that smelled nauseating and was a bright almost lemon color. She barely looked up when Torbjorn called out to her, just smiled while she stirred.

“Ah, it’s not everyday I get such esteemed guests in my little hovel. Let alone the brothers of wind and thunder,” Moira said with a malicious smile. “How may I be of service.”

“Moira… as the defender of Earthrealm, I would like to formally challenge you to a tournament.”

That got Moira’s attention real quick. She abandoned her stirring to properly face Hanzo, smiling coiling in a sickening fashion. The menacing light of her castle that threw menacing shadows over her sickly pale skin, marked with dark charcoal markings along her features.

“I do beg pardon, but can you repeat that?”

“Earthrealm challenges Netherrealm to a tournament. The prize? The souls of the Revenants and the hellwraith, Gabriel Reyes,” Hanzo said, his power thrumming and making sparks danced across his skin. A threat of his power to make his words punch harder.

“Oh, and what do I gain? From fighting in this… ‘tournament’ of yours?” Moira smirked, lightly tapping fingers against her smirking lips.

“For each soul that fights against one of yours, the loser remains with you, forever bound like their fellows.”

“Oh! Such a bargain!” Moira smiled, eyes narrowing with pleasure as Hanzo’s lighting crackled with enough intensity to make everyone with hair feel the prickle and free hairs stick up on end. How insane was this dark witch to not be afraid of a god that was two seconds from unleashing all of his Elder God given powers upon her? “Very well, thunder god, I accept.”

“Make no mistake, witch, we shall win, and we shall reclaim our lost,” Hanzo practically growled, lighting sparking off of him in powerful bursts that made the air crackle around him.

“As yes, well for now… We shall see in Mortal Kombat,” Moira smiled, her necromantic powers making a sickly and heinous green glow steam off of her.

Genji had to draw Hanzo away, grabbing his arm and forcibly dragging him back up the way that they came. McCree easily turned heel and started nonchalantly walking back. Morrison had stopped to glare, clouds of cold air escaping his mask as he undoubtedly huffed with rage, brow furrowed into murderous wrinkles as his misted eyes refused to stray from the smirking form of Moira. The floor around his feet had frosted over and was growing ice spikes. It took Hanzo getting over his own burst of homicidal rage to grab Morrison and drag him back, his hand frosting over where it gripped Morrison’s exposed bicep.

When they were back outside the castle, Hanzo quickly teleported them all back to the reformed Overwatch base and to their fretting friends left behind.

“What happened?” Commander Amari asked as Hanzo flexed his fingers and broke the thick ice encasing his hand and keeping him tied to Sub-Zero.

“... The deal is done. We face Netherrealm in Mortal Kombat for our friends,” Hanzo said.

“Thank the Elder Gods… Morrison are you well?” Commander Amari asked.

The ground underneath Morrison’s feet had frosted over the man had silently brooded over what had just happened. Being spoken too jarred him from his thoughts. But only for a moment. In the next, his entire form had frosted over and that frost broke apart to reveal that he was gone, having teleported and left an ice clone in his wake, making his companions sigh in worry.

* * *

“You return, Sub-Zero.”

Jack bowed respectfully to the Lin Kuei Grandmaster, Mei-Ling Zhou, who stood on the steps of the Lin Kuei temple waiting for Morrison to come back home. She smiled softly, returning the bow, misted over eyes much like Morrison’s crinkling as Morrison stood up and removed his mask, revealing the scarred and aged face underneath. Which was slightly strange, that such an older man would call such a young woman like Mei-Ling Zhou ‘Grandmaster;. But it was apparent by how Jack carried himself and looked at Grandmaster Mei-Ling Zhou with total respect, that Jack held his grandmaster in the highest respect.

“How did the deal with socereress Moira go?” Grandmaster Zhou asked as she beckoned Jack to follow her back inside their home.

“... The tournament is on,” Jack reported.

“You do not sound pleased by this. I thought it was your idea to inspire Earthrealm to reclaim her warriors?”

“... You know how the last one went,” Jack said, fingertips coming up to brush the two slashes across his face.

“The ultimate betrayal of Special Forces, the Lin Kuei and the Shirai-Ryu,” Grandmaster Zhou sighed heavily, hands resting on her heavy hips and her next few footsteps left ice on the ground. But just a few. She was Grandmaster for a reason. “A tournament to keep in tradition and what happens? The former Akande Kahn and his sorceress Moira try to invade Earthrealm.”

“And half of anyone that showed up to help got killed or worse,” Morrison gruffed out, “I remember what happened, Grandmaster.”

“I would certainly hope so. We want to change things this time around, Morrison, so we must remember the ills of the past and do better. And if we are to try to save Scorpion, you are going to need to really up your lackluster social skills,” Grandmaster Zhou deadpanned.

“I am well aware,” Jack muttered.

“... I’m not teasing you, Jack. Scorpion was made to believe that a great deal of blame for the fall of Earthrealm’s warriors on us, and more specifically, you. Because of Moira’s magic and lies and because she owns his soul now, he is even more susceptible to her words. If we win his soul back, you still have a very powerful, very skilled and very pissed off man out for your blood.”

“... I know. I will think of something, Grandmaster Zhou… we put these events in motion for a reason. We will revive the fallen.”

“Though you have a particular interest in Gabriel Reyes,” Grandmaster Zhou teased.

“... Yeah.”

“I understand. But we are fighting as Earthrealm against Netherrealm for many souls, my student,” Grandmaster Zhou said softly, reaching out to softly laid a comforting hand on Jack’s arm, too short to reach anywhere else. “If the situation arises where you must choose… please think of the greater good.”

“I know.”

Grandmaster Zhou smiled softly.

“Now. I need to whip you into shape for this tournament, my student. Your silver tongue to convince Gabriel comes later, for now, you must withstand his pryomanctic and hellwraith fires first.”

* * *

Jack thought often of the betrayal that lead to the downfall of both Special Forces and the two once great clans. The tournament that had been rather innocent in nature and more out of tradition then any true need to settle anything through fatal combat, turned into a bloodbath. Where they had not even the chance to claim their friends’ bodies before Moira had taken them, filled them with Netherrealm hellfire that charred their skin and formed fissures of heat along the ashed skin. Made them the Revenants.

_Akande Kahn and his sorceress Moira, at that throne, as they stood above the crowds cheering on the fighters._

_Lord Hanzo and Lord Genji looking on, following the fight with almost endearingly overly focused eyes._

_A bright and smiling human Gabriel Reyes trading friendly blows with him, also smiling. The crowd loved the clash of fire and ice--_

Hissing, Jack gritted his teeth and tried to return to his evening meditation. It seemed more and more interrupted with thoughts of previous failures now, haunting hours meant to relax Jack to sleep spent instead wounding him back up. The looming threat of the tournament was real now. Their friends lives and the ability to save them were real now. Being able to save Gabriel was real now…

Sighing and admitting defeat to centering his thoughts, Jack instead rose from his room floor to walk outside to see if an evening stride could clear his head. 

Up in the mountains it grew cold enough to harm most humans, temperatures quickly plummeting to numbers that meant almost instant damage to living tissue and death within minutes. Cryomancers that ran strong and proud in the Lin Kuei thrived under such killer cold environments and even the most frigid of temperatures barely fazed them. Even at the dead of night when it was the coldest yet, they were hardly bothered.

So Jack could walk without worry, pacing the perimeter of the Lin Kuei temple as he tried to calm his anxious mind.

What they needed to do next to undo bloodied history… the pressure… how the fuck was he going to convince Gabriel that what happened was not the Lin Kuei doing? Or his for that matter?

“Your thoughts trouble you,” Hanzo said as he, thankfully, appeared out a short and quiet burst of sparks. It seemed that even the anxious thunder god could remember manners to not appear with an actual lightning strike as was his usual preferred entrance.

“How can’t they?” Jack asked sullenly.

“I would be troubled if you were not, truthfully,” Hanzo said, taking up stride next to him. The massive thunder god had to shorten his strides so not to leave Jack in his dust. “This… is a lot. Even I struggle with the task set before us. It is… immense and quite daunting. And the consequences should we fail…”

“Trust me, that’s why I’m up at night. I can’t… I can’t lose him anymore then I already have, Lord Hanzo,” Jack sighed deeply.

“I know… we were at a prime of peace before that tournament. Earthrealm at peace, Netherrealm quiet, Outworld quiet, the fallen Elder God Talon defeated for a time… the two mightiest clans, the Lin Kuei and the Shirai-Ryu in talks of an alliance based on the kindled romance of two of their own…”

Jack’s steps left ten inch knife like ice spikes in their wake and the thunder god beside him looked down casually at the thick layer of ice forming on his skin, brushing it aside nonchalantly with an electric charged hand. It took several more feet before Jack got himself back underneath control, mentally kicking himself for the lapse and gritting his teeth as he tried to keep his simmering temper under discipline.

“My apologies.”

“... ‘s fine… how are we gonna do this?”

“The tournament will happen within three months time. In that time we will train what fighters we have. Mako Kahn has assured us that the fighters that he is sending to our aid will be trained as well and be ready. So far the roaster, excluding myself and Genji as Moira insisted on that stipulation that guardian gods should not compete, is you, Overwatch Commander Amari, Specialist Fareeha Amari, Specialist Lena Oxton, Specialist Lúcio Correia dos Santos, Outworld gunslinger Jesse McCree, and then Zenyatta the ten thousand souls holding Konstruct.”

“Against?”

“... Reinhardt Wilhelm, Angela Ziegler, Torbjorn Lindholm, Gabriel Reyes, Amélie Lacroix, Oliva Colomar and Satya Vaswani,” Hanzo rattled off, probably having remembered their real names by heart by now. Most everyone did, once having more than happy to know the codenames; Mercy, Scorpion, Sombra, Symmetra, etc. But now… now they needed to remember.

“Have we discussed matches yet?”

“You’re facing Scorpion. No one can withstand his flames nor have as much combat experience as you do to match Reyes’. Not to mention we felt that the personal ties between you two would help you fight to win with more… passion.”

Jack nodded. Made sense all around. The Kombat Kids were highly trained and highly skilled, but Gabe’s hellfire would melt anything they threw at him and his rage was better aimed at Jack. Not to mention Jack would need the fight to convince Gabriel about the betrayal. That everyone had been set up and every tragedy that had fallen had fallen at Talon’s and its servants’ behalf. Still not sure how, but god dammit, for the man he still loved to this day even after all these years, Jack was going to fucking try.

“The others we will sort out. Will you be ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Jack grunted. “I can’t… I can’t let Moira have him any longer, Lord Hanzo. I can’t.”

“I know… we will retrieve our fallen, Jack. We will.”

And like that, the thunder god disappeared in a spray of sparks and slightly settled, Jack returned to his room for rest.

He had a lot of training to do.

* * *

Moira was busy stirring the pot and humming softly, thinking of all her new recruits that she would get. Earthrealm’s warriors were always lackluster, but some chemistry and they could be might like her current Revenants. Just a little tweaking, always a little tweaking at a time. Too much and you got Meat. No one liked Meat. But a few nudges and you had warriors ready to fight gods like those pretenders Hanzo and Genji.

“Moira.”

And some did not need nudging at all.

“Yes, Scorpion?” Moira smiled sweetly at the black and red clad warrior before her. His mask hid almost all of his face and his hood hid the rest in shadows. Except those pale hellwraith eyes, staring out like ghost lights from the darkness.

“Who am I facing in the tournament?”

“Zenyatta, his unique powers and the many powerful souls he holds within him shall--”

“No. Put me against Sub-Zero,” Scorpion snapped, flames quickly forming along his being, the anger that she sowed running unchecked. What a beautiful sight.

“Oh? I require his soul--”

“None shall be left after I burn him to ashes,” Scorpion snapped.

“Mmm, very well. You shall face Sub-Zero. A pity though, a skilled warrior like him would be useful--”

“That traitor dies.”

Moira merely smiled as Scorpion marched off again. All according to plan really, even if she could not keep the shiny soveriner of Sub-Zero’s soul. He would have made an excellent Revenant with some tweaking but ah… if there was one less warrior in the way of Talon’s glorious return back to its rightful place on earth, then all would be well.

For now… there were a few tweaks to be had.

* * *

“Is grump face gonna train with us?” Lena asked as most of the Earthrealm team assembled on Overwatch training yard. Most of the still not technically legal forces were doing what they usually did while eyeing them. A Mortal Kombat tournament only called for small teams but as the name implies… the battles usually ended in one way or another.

“Which one?” Lúcio snorted as he skated around.

“Good point! Any of the ones not present,” Lena laughed.

“Sub-Zero and the Outworld forces will be training on their own territory, so we must make due without them. Thankfully there are no team matches or anyone with similar powers. And it might be best. Sub-Zero… he’s a man on a mission and the years have not been kind to him and as such, have made him… it’s just best. As for the Outworld forces joining us, none of them are pleasant so it’s just best that way. But let’s focus,” Ana said as she beckoned the team forward.

“Now. This is very important. You all are highly skilled individuals and you do some need hard experience and training. But the Mortal Kombat tournament is not something to take lightly. You may die. There is no ifs ands or buts. You have a pronounced chance at dying,” Ana explained, dead serious.

“Is that how…” Fareeha asked.

“No… and I suppose if you kids are going to be doing this for us this time around, you should know what happened,” Ana sighed, sad and heavy with years of guilt weighing on her. “We were betrayed. Moira saw an opportunity and started a series of events that would lead to several people dying. The former Kahn and her were working towards rising up the former and fallen Elder God Talon. We stopped them and now that fallen god is trapped in an amulet that is being guarded by the other Elder Gods. We can only guess that Moira is trying to bring Talon back. We must win. At all costs.”

“How did we get betrayed?” Lucio asked. “Seems kind of weird that Moira could do all that.”

“She played on insecurities and miscommunication. She had the Shirai-Ryu slaughtered and pinned it on the Lin Kuei, pitting Scorpion against Sub-Zero. She also had a former queen of Outworld resurrected under sustainable mind control and with her powers she… she…” Ana stopped and sighed, rubbing her face tiredly. “She killed everyone else in a surprise attack after we narrowly won the tournament. Torbjorn managed to kill her but did so by sacrificing his own life to her last attack… we lost them. But we can get them back. So I need to train you kids even more so then I already have.”

“I guess we’re gonna heros now,” Lena grinned.

“If we can pull this off, absolutely.”

* * *

Two weeks later...

* * *

“How goes training?”

“Well enough. The past two weeks have been rather hard on them but they are taking it with remarkable stride. They are motivated and passionate. And they are exceptionally skilled as is,” Ana told Hanzo when the thunder god had shown up after two weeks time to do checkups on the Earthrealm team.

The Overwatch base had become devoted to training the team that would face Netherrealm. A lot of resources were being poured into making sure that the Earthrealm team had everything and anything they could need when they went up against their controlled friends. Not to mention the very almost likely plot that Moira had brewing to unleash Talon on the world and the last invasion (regardless if it was failed and barely started) that happened. Well… people were still mourning even decades later and no one wanted yet another bloodbath on their hands.

“Have our Outrealm allies come to train with us?” Hanzo asked as they walked.

“... Jack is here. He showed up this morning.”

“Your tone suggests all is not well.”

“... Just look.”

In a rather large and clear room apparently set aside for training the Earthrealm team, Sub-Zero was currently trouncing the Earthrealm team… one arm held behind his back and the other casually throwing up ice guards to block everything thrown at him. The room was a mess of crushed ice and snow littering the ground from how many times the young ones had thrown themselves at him. In fact the temperature of the room was something akin to being at the edges of a rather powerful blizzard and even Hanzo felt the bite of it into his god flesh.

“... He is angry?” Hanzo ventured.

“Jack has never dealt with emotions well. This is the closest he gets to healthily dealing with them,” Ana sighed. “I suspect that the idea of being able to see Gabriel again, to even save him, has frazzled his already tormented mind.”

Hanzo watched for a time. The Earthrealm heroes were fast, incredibly so. Lena with her guns and sprinting and rewind ability, Lucio with his speed abilities, Fareeha with her suit and military training. But they seemed to be dead stopped by Jack’s ability to summon an endless storm of ice and his own training, which likely was more than all of theirs combined. And in the end, the team had to give up to simple exhaustion rather then getting any hits on the man.

“Alright, let’s stop there before we all freeze over!” Ana called.

Jack grunted loudly before snapping his fingers and all the ice…. Vanished. He dusted his hands off and walked over to Ana and Hanzo as the team tried to recover, left panting on the ground from the exertion.

“It would be wise to leave our other fighters in one piece for the tournament ahead, Sub-Zero,” Hanzo said plainly when the man approached them.

“... Right.”

“If nothing else, you’ve proven a point in that they need to learn how to combat defensive tactics. Wilhelm… he will still likely be using his shield. Lena might be the best bet, if she cannot break the shield she will be the one to maneuver around it,” Ana hummed thoughtfully.

“Have you decided matchups?” Hanzo asked.

“Lena against Reinhardt, her speed will trump most of his abilities since he is so slow moving. Fareeha will take Amélie, her suit will allow her to out maneuver her sniping abilities to a degree. Based on their abilities, I think I will need to take on Olivia, with my own sniping abilities I can combat some of her teleporting abilities and I can downgrade the tech in my gun to thwart her hacking. Lucio could do well against Satya, his speed and maneuverability could be a good match against her portals…”

“You’re leaving the fates of Torbjorn and Angela in the hands of our Outworld fighters,” Jack said flatly.

“I know, but we don’t exactly have two fighters that can go up against Torbjorn’s engineering nor prosthetic enhancements or Angela’s healing abilities or medical knowledge,” Ana snapped, frowning at Jack and the implication of his words.

“The konstruct Zenyatta would do well against Angela, neither of them are particularly hardy despite their powers and they both have the ability to heal. That means Jesse McCree will face Torbjorn, hopefully his boasts about his gunslinging prove true,” Hanzo said to break the tense air.

“If we have too we’ll get them over here and I can face Zenyatta to train him at least somewhat and we can set McCree up against the ‘Turret Hell’ training course set on maximum to train him,” Ana sighed, still glaring sideways at Jack who seemed not at all fazed.

“Very good. Myself and Genji are currently working with Outworld on the actual tournament details. Mako Kahn was gracious to host us as a neutral third ground, but something tells me that he’s turning into a spectacle and a way to show off Earthrealm and Outworld’s alliance’s might to his subjects and those attending.”

“After the last tournament, I’m very happy to call Outworld allies,” Ana sighed, “Mako is a fair and… I would not say kinder, but a far more blunt and honest man then Akande was… Also not evil, always a bonus.”

“In any case, training is the main problem right now. It is starting to feel like three months will not be enough,” Hanzo sighed.

“We’ll be ready,” Jack said.

“I very much hope so.”

* * *

When the training period was done, they all piled through a portal to Outworld.

The stark difference between the general coolness of Special Forces’ Spain location and Outworld Amazon jungle like heat had most of them wincing, especially when the sunlight hit them. But the Earthrealm team soon adjusted to the light and found themselves in the middle of what looked like a busy market square. The gathered crowd cheered at the sight of them, the whole thing likely a setup by Mako Kahn.

The kombat kids waved and smiled as they started lugging their equipment towards the awaiting arena.

“I remember the last time we did this,” Ana sighed as she walked with Jack. “We were all smiles and waves, playing it up for the crowd…”

“We didn’t know what was going to happen. We just through we would do some slightly flashier rough housing and then go home heroes,” Jack said.

“True. And now? Now we need to win. We need to win every match. We need to bring our people home.”

“We will.”

“Oh? Is that fire I sense?”

“Yeah, Netherrealm fire ain’t got nothing on how bad I’m gonna make Moira look in front of that crowd when we clean sweep her shit,” Jack growled.

“There’s the Jack I used to know. Now, let’s kick ass Sub-Zero.”

* * *

Lena and Reinhardt would go first.

“I’m… nervous not gonna lie,” Lena muttered as the crowd roared as the two meant to square off stood by the doorway to the little rooms before the stage.

The coliseum was packed to the absolute brim with Outworlders. Mako Kahn had a little box off to the side, just wide enough to fit Mako’s bulky form and two seats on his sides, the ‘Kahn’ seats having obviously been greatly reduced to get more general spector seats. Mako sat in his massive throne and looking down at the crowd below them, his manic sorcerer hanging off the stone that held his massive frame. A ways away in a different booth was Moira and she stared coldly down at the arena. So many eyes on them and no one could blame Lena in any small part of her nerves on the audience. Few of the members of the Earthrealm team had fought before an audience before.

“You’re gonna do great, kid,” Jack muttered as he looked around for Gabriel. None of the Netherrealm team could be seen yet, unfortunately.

“Whelp… wish me luck!” Lena said, lifting her pistols before dashing into the arena.

Part of the tournament was showmanship. Elder Gods damned traditions and all that, not to mention Mako Kahn was hosting them and this was in part to flex the power of the allied Outworld and Earthrealm teams. They had to participate in part of it. So Lena ‘pinged’, disappearing in a flash, reappearing a second later, doing it again, essentially doing a ping-pong lightshow until she stood in her spot with her pistols aimed at where Reinhardt was supposed to stand.

Even with that bit of showing off, everyone could see the tenseness of her shoulders and how taunt her jaw was--

Reinhardt emerged from the other side. The Netherrealm fire that burned in his decrepit viens formed fiery cracks along his burnt skin. His armor, which had once been bright and shiny and pure and ever the symbol of a paladin of justice, was now all spikes and black metal and Netherrealm fire seeming from the cracks. When he heaved his shield deloyer up and the energy shield hummed to life, the once blue light was revealed to be a dark maroon and crackled with raw electricity along the edges. Almost lifelessly, Reinhardt stomped forward, hammer clutched in one hand and his shield held up in the other.

“ _So begins our tournament. Earthrealm and Outworld versus Nethrerealm. Our first match: Tracer versus Reinhardt. Round one, FIGHT!_ ” Mako Kahn boomed from his seat.

Lena was a blur, a streak of light as her speed sped around the edge of the area, appearing behind Reinhardt and getting several shots in that mostly just bounced off his armor, before zipping away again. Reinhardt groaned, something that sounded more akin wind howling through a dead cavern, before hefting his shield up and trying to hunker down as Lena took to using the age old ‘death by bug bites’ tactic. Something that seemed to work because Reinhardt’s deadened senses simply could not keep up with her speed, his armor getting peppering with bullets, leaving little scorches marks and little dips in the burnt metal.

The crowd was something of a constant roar around the arena, howling a cacophony various words, cheers, boos, anything and everything that mixed together into heinous slurred noise. They seemed to really like when Lena reappeared to get her shots in, howling extra loud when she did so before quieting just slightly when she disappeared again. Not a spectacular fight, but could they possible expect from a fight between Reinhardt and Lena, who weighed less than his hammer?

“She’s doing well so far, as long as she doesn’t get cocky or Reinhardt doesn’t pull anything…” Lena muttered.

“You had to say some--”

Reinhardt dropped his shield, let the heavy head of his hammer drop to the ground and then gave a hard sweep of it. Netherrealm flames shot out of it like a wave and Lena yelped as she barely dashed out of the way to avoid them, though thankfully quickly regaining her cool and going back to dashing about.

“Moira’s likely been toying with their physiologies and equipment,” Hanzo grunted, lips pulled back slightly from his teeth and his brow furrowed over his pale glowing eyes.

“I would say, that’s new!” Ana gasped, hands clutching the railing of Earthrealm’s viewing booth.

Reinhardt seemed to now be on offense, instead of just trying to fend off Lena’s bug bite attacks. Earthrealm team watched with horror as Lena became focused on running from Reinhardt’s waves of Netherrealm fire launched from his hammer strikes and swipes. Fire buffeted the, thankfully high, walls of the arena. The crowd loved it, of course, roaring to almost deafening levels as Lena ran for her life.

“Come on, Lena, come on, I know you have it in you… you’re smart, you can figure this out,” Ana grumbled underneath her breath.

The arena was streaked with increasing burn marks as Reinhardt tried really hard to hit Lena and Lena tried even harder to avoid him. One of them was bound to run out of stamina sooner or later if they kept their game up. One of them had to play smarter or manage to play faster to turn the tides before exhaustion picked the victor.

“Bugger it,” Lena muttered.

She zipped forward, disappearing for a moment before reappearing for a moment, enough for reinhardt to throw a useless attack at her that she effortlessly avoided before zipping forward again and then again. Right at his feet, Lena put a foot on one of Reinhardt’s massive legs and pushed herself up, grabbing his shoulder before the man could abandon his hammer to swat at her like she was an annoying bug. She swung her up her by her grip and swung herself around until her feet landed on his shoulders. 

With her new perch she first shot several times at Reinhardt’s hands, doing something because his arm faltered from swatting her away before shooting at his shoulder. That side of his body went limp. Incapacitated, Lena spun her hold on her pistol, and holding it by the barell, using the handle as a swift bludgen and cracked Reinhardt’s temple. It took seven strikes for her strength to get past his immense size before the giant shuddered… And then toppled. Lena ended up getting tossed, landing a few feet away and looking quiet winded as she spun around and aimed her guns at Reinhardt’s still form. Waiting to see if he would regain consciousness quickly.

He did not.

“ _Victory! Lena wins!_ ”

Lena sighed as the crowd nearly tore itself asunder with their cheers of victory.

“Hey! HEY WAIT!”

Mako Kahn waved his hand and the crowd reluctantly lowered its volume.

“Moira you owe me his soul for winning, hand it over!” Lena yelled as she got up, aiming her guns at Moira.

“ _Earthrealm is right, Moira. You lost this fight, so hand over the prize._ ”

Moira looked livid and trying very hard to hide it. Her face was drawn tight, lips looking ready to snarl something foul with bared teeth. Her eyes burned with bright green and hellish necromantic fire and for a moment, the Earthrealm team worried that she was going to do something terrible.

“ _Need I remind you of your situation, sorceress?_ ”

From behind Moira, a few people could barely make out the form of the ten thousand souled konstruct hovering ominously behind Moira. Apparently Mako Kahn had made some attempts to make sure that Moira would not simply destroy the souls she held captive. Because what could she do against a non-living konstruct with ten thousand souls? Hardly much of anything. Her magic could do nothing against the army inside of Zenyatta and a fight against him would mean one thing. Death.

Something that she seemed to register based on how necromantic fire burned from her eyes for all of three seconds… before they extinguished and she sighed, going lax. Zenyatta disappeared as Moira turned to glare at the arena before, lifting her hand.

She snapped her fingers and Reinhardt suddenly lurched. He wheezed and coughed as Lena jumped up and ran over to him, managing to help heave the man up into a sitting position. Reinhardt wheezed and hacked and finally managed to clear the way, spewing a greasy dark grey smoke that dripped down like it weighed something terrible. As it spewed from his mouth, the ashened and hell fire of his skin started to fade away, revealing human skin underneath.

Reinhardt coughed and wheezed and cleared the poison from his body, revealing more and more the human trapped underneath-- and then something even more odd started to happen.

The Revenants had not looked aged since their ‘deaths’. Reinhardt, with his main of blonde hair and his youthful face even with the hellfire and ashen color, started to age as though time had suddenly started to accelerate and hit where he would have been had he never had ‘died’. His hair shortened and silvered with age, his face lined and aged and creased, his beard grew and grew scraggly and silvered along with his head of hair.

“Reinhardt,” Ana breathed.

When all the Revenant corruption finally cleared, a human Reinhardt but now aged twenty years, was left behind. He looked dazed and tired, his good eye fogged over.

“I need help!” Lena yelled as she tried to heave Reinhardt’s huge form up with no progress.

Mako Kahn nodded when the Earthrealm team looked to him. Hanzo and Genji teleported into the arena without a second hesitation, getting underneath Reinhardt’s arms and heaving him up with their god strength. However, even with their god like height, they ended up with Reinhardt still buckled over and they still strained as they heaved Reinhardt back in the way that the Earthrealm team were waiting to greet him, especially Ana so that she could tend to him medically.

“I… I won…” Lena gaped as they got Reinhardt tucked into a corner as Ana started hurriedly undo Reinhardt’s Netherrealm armor and tossing it aside. “I WON!”

“YOU DID IT!” Fareeha yelled, hug tackling Lena, picking her up and swinging her around. “You won!”

Hanzo breathed a sighed of relief.

So far so good…

* * *

There would be intermissions between fights for local fighters to fight for Mako Kahn’s honor and favor. Nothing quite as intense as the actual fights and more to give the actual main event fighters a break and build up hype between fights. Earthrealm could hear the crowd rumble pleased like with the fights continuing as they fussed over the newly returned Reinhardt.

They had gotten him out of his Netherrealm armor and scrapped it, giving it to Mako’s sorcerer when he came down to ask for it. Now, in a generously donated soft basic outfit given to them by an arena attendant, Reinhardt was sitting on one of the benches while Ana looked him over with incredibly scrutiny. He still had not regained much of his consciousness, but based on how his body aged, they assumed his mind was trying to process twenty years of memories.

“Alright… who’s the next fight?” Genji asked.

“Fareeha and Amélie,” Ana said as she checked Reinhardt’s temperature and any and all exposed skin.

“I’m ready,” Fareeha said calmly, letting out a long breath to center herself.

“Remember, Amélie is a master sniper. You need to make yourself a difficult target to hit and get in close,” Ana said.

“Got it. I should suit up then. Everyone wish me luck, but especially the two gods,” Fareeha nodded before going into the side room with the equipment to get her flight suit.

* * *

“ _Kombatants!_ ”

Fareeha let out a long breath, steadying herself, checking her weapon one last time. Ready, she ducked down and rushed out, clearing the doorway and the jets on her suits launching her up into the air. She twirled around, twisting, showing off her suit’s capability, before touching down in her designated spot. The light gleaned off her Anubis styled helm and her suit.

Améile came out next, walking with the ghostly elegance of both her former life as a ballet dancer and mind control. Not even death could sap her dancer agility and grace. The light of the day gleaned off her black metal and spine covered armor, much similar to Reinhardt’s and apparently something of a uniform for Netherrealm fighters. Her greyed skin had hell fire cracks along the surface and her eyes glowed red hot as she mechanically walked to her spot and aimed her sniper rifle at Fareeha.

“ _Pharah versus Widowmaker. Round one, FIGHT!_ ”

Fareeha launched herself up into the air, narrowly missing a bullet aimed at her legs. She soared through the air, dodging Amélie’s potshots as she tried to take out Fareeha’s weak spots such as joints, hands and even trying to hit vital parts of her suit. She had to wait until Amélie ran out of ammo and was forced to reload before going on the offensive.

Gun aimed at her feet, Fareeha unleashed the first round of shots, forcing Amélie to dash away. Fareeha trailed her shots after her, trying to make her fumble, trip her to get in close to knock her out--

Amélie suddenly threw out her hand and everyone watched as a rope from the seemingly ordinary gauntlet suddenly zipped out. It hit a pillar that stood off to the side and high above the arena. With an expert flick of her wrist, she was flinging herself through the air, twisting herself around and aiming at a rather stunned Fareeha. The bullet thankfully hit Fareeha’s suit and bounced off and Fareeha gathered her wits to start evasive maneuvers.

“Shit, when did she get that!?”

Ana had a white knuckle grip on the railing, good eye wide with parental terror. Everyone watching on the sidelines felt gripped by terror as they realized that Fareeha’s maneuverability edge was effectively rendered ineffective. Now Fareeha had to rely on her own speed and skills in battle and hoped that a woman that was a master sniper and no hesitation.

The battle became a very tense drive-by contest between the two. They would fly around the arena, Fareeha in her suit and Amélie with her grappling line. When they got a chance to shoot, they took it, often missing or glancing at the other. Fareeha was saved by her suit actually being made to take a few hits and Amélie by her Netherrealm armor, but a few stray hits had a few red bleeding lines on Fareeha’s cheeks and a few red hot lava like lines on Amélie’s arms and neck.

They were in a deadlock for several moments, until Fareeha decided to take advantage of her suit’s superior armor. She tilted her head down until her helmet covered most of her face and just launched herself at Amélie, aiming her gun despite the bullets pinging off her armor. She launched her attack and Amélie was thrown off her feet, being tossed off to the side. She struggled to get up as Fareeha dove in close to knock her out--

A purple portal opened up next to Amélie’s prone form and the undead Sombra slipped through. She aimed her Uzi at Fareeha, Fareeha yelling as she quickly dove out of the way to avoid the bullets.

“ _Netherrealm! I will give Earthrealm this win if you don’t get your kombatant out of my arena!_ ” Mako Kahn bellowed from his seat.

Earthrealm was not overjoyed because with Sombra shooting at Fareeha, Amélie had enough time to get up and now they were both shooting at her and now Fareeha was wildly flying through the air to avoid bullets. And Moira seemed to be taking her sweet time to witness the event before making a show of slowly lifting her hand--

Sombra and Amélie were knocked aside by a wave of ice. A quickly formed ice patch spat out Jack, who just as quickly threw another ice wave at Amélie and Sombra as they tried to get up and were once again knocked off their feet. Growling behind his mask, Jack turned his head to glare dark and bloody murder at Moira that seemed just as surprised as everyone else that he had jumped in.

And then he formed an ice patch underneath Sombra and suddenly formed an ice tower underneath her that sent her flying. She landed hard at the door of Netherrealm’s backstage room and Jack threw another ice wave that sent her flying back in. With the cheater taken care of, an ice patch formed underneath of himself and he fell into it. He reformed back in the balcony, rushing over the edge to watch Fareeha take advantage of the situation.

She touched down as Amélie tried to stand from the crushed ice that she had been practically buried in. Gritting her teeth, she ran forward and delivered a blow to Amélie’s head, immediately toppling her. Fareeha aimed her gun at Amélie’s head and waited for her to get back up. After several moments of complete stillness, Mako Kahn’s voice rose above the sound of the crowd.

“ _Pharah wins! Victory!_ ”

Not even hesitating, Fareeha turned on her heel and aimed her gun at Moira.

“HAND OVER HER SOUL!” Fareeha yelled over the crowd, surprising everyone with the volume of sound.

Moira gritted her teeth, obviously enraged. But once again Zenyatta appeared behind her, eyes glowing menacingly. Between the konstruct behind her and the gun aimed at her, Moira had to bite her tongue. Glaring until her eyes glowed bright green with her necromancer powers. But she snapped her fingers and Amélie started to do the same that Reinhardt had done.

Thankfully Fareeha could easily move Amélie, helping her sit up as Amélie started wheezing and vomiting up smoke and smog as the corruption started leaving her body. Fareeha patted her back as the grey started to leave her skin, leaving behind her normal and human skin tone, the hellfire cracks vanishing. Her wounds, which were hellfire and lava before, turned into red rich blood and broken skin.

And as with Reinhardt, time rolled forward on Amélie. Her youthful features leaned out, age lines appeared, her black hair lightened but did not grey as much as Reinhardt’s had, though her temples did lighten up enough to be considered a dark grey color.

“I’ve got you, I’ve got you,” Fareeha said quietly as she easily picked up Amélie’s long, lean and light form into her arms, carrying her back to the waiting Earthrealm team as the crowd screamed their joy over the results.

Back in the back room, Ana quickly took Amélie off Fareeha’s hands and took her over to a bench to start checking her over. Fareeha breathed and collapsed to the ground, breathing hard. Jack grabbed a few bandages from Ana before going over to her, stooping down to get at her face. He did have to tug her helmet back a bit, revealing a smirking Fareeha.

“Thanks for the save, Jack.”

“You had it handled. But I didn’t want Moira to play any dirty tricks,” Jack gruffed out, unwrapping a bandage and gently pressing one against her cheek.

“Still… can’t believe I won!” Fareeha grinned.

“You’re a highly skilled woman with a good heart, not at all surprising,” Jack said simply.

Fareeha grinned as the team cheered for her as Jack helped her up, pumping her fist.

* * *

Another intermission and more time to fret over their reclaimed warriors. Ana had an ice pack pressed to the lump on Amélie’s head. But just as Reinhardt still was, she hardly seemed to be all there. Her eyes were fogged over and she was not responding to any questions they asked her. As it was suggested, it was possible that their brains were working through being in neutral for twenty years, but as none of them were neurosurgeons or at all specialists with brains of even anything closely related to ‘The mechanisms of turning the undead back into humans’, it was anyone’s guess. They all hoped that they would surface soon, though.

“We’ll need to get these two to a hospital when everything is said and done…” Ana muttered, pulling the ice pack away to check the swelling.

“Uh huh,” Jack grumbled, distant.

“Something wrong, Jack?”

“... You know how the Shirai-Ryu were slaughtered, right?”

“... Yes?”

“Amélie did it,” Jack started bluntly.

“How could she--”

“Moira. When Amélie joined the first tournament, she got Amélie alone and used her foul black magic to brainwash her and make her a sleeper agent. Moira used her to kill the Shirai-Ryu and then used more magic to alter the scene of the crime to hide Amelie’s involvement. Her crime was further hidden when Mercy killed her,” Jack explained.

“Then how did you know?”

Jack looked around his clothing for a moment before find a disk tucked away. He held it in the center of his palm before hitting a button on the side. There was a brief moment of static and suddenly a hologram of Moira appeared.

“ _Akande Kahn. As instructed, I have LaCroix under my control. When the timing is right, I’ll teleport her to the Shirai-Ryu temple and have her kill the lot. When she is done, I’ll return her and momentarily give her back her sense and then alter the wounds on the bodies to hide her invovlment. Earthrealm team will tear itself apart over this._ ”

The hologram cut out and Jack returned it to his clothing.

“... Where did you…”

“Mako Kahn took me aside and gave it to me not long after we arrived. Apparently he found it with Akande’s junk,” Jack explained.

“Wait, you can use this! For Gabriel!”

“I’m going to try. Gabriel will need the patience to watch it though.”

“You’ll make it work, Jack. You’re a stubborn jackass and personally determined.”

“Gee, thanks Ana.”

Ana chuckled and had he not been wearing his mask, she would have seen Jack crack a rare smile.

* * *

Thanks to her interference and how she got ejected from the arena, Ana and Sombra’s fight was postponed a fight. Now it was Lucio and Symmetra’s fight.

“Wish me luck,” Lucio groaned.

“You don’t need it, you’re highly skilled and more then ready,” Ana assured him. “Remember, watch out of her portals. Use your speed and mobility.”

Drawing a deep breath within himself, Lucio steeled himself before skating out.

Lucio zigged, zagged and twirled on his skates, the lights on his suit leaving streaks of light through the air. The speakers on his suit thrummed with a low playing song that seemed to vitalize the already excited crowd and they managed to get louder and rowdier than any of the fights before hand. Lucio came to a halt at his spot, lifting his hand to press a button at the headphone at his ear and activating his visor.

Symmetra came out of the Netherrealm team door. Like the others before her, her skin was a dark ashen grey with glowing hellfire cracks along the surface. Unlike Amélie and Reinhardt before her, she wore black and and red light clothing. And unlike Amélie and Reinhardt, it looked like one of her arms had been amputated and replaced with a black metal arm that had glowing hellfire lines along the joint lines. She stiffly walked to her spot and did the same as Lucio to activate her own visor before stiffly lifting her strange gun and aiming it forward.

“ _Lucio versus Symmetra. Round one, FIGHT!_ ”

Lucio immediately took off. Symmetra’s head stiffly turned and she took fire with what looked like energy bullets. Lucio easily dodged them, skating over the edge of the arena and skating along the edge at great speed. As soon as he built up a good chunk of speed, he took his sound gun out and aimed it at Symmetra. The first shot missed and the miss was all it took for Symmetra to start moving. She took off running, running to dodge Lucio’s shots. Despite her heels, Symmetra apparently still had her dancer agility and stamina and she took off like a goddamn bullet.

A game of attempted bee stings began as the two outran each other, building up speed and advantage before attempting to shoot the other. Lucio’s maneuverability always let him dodge, and Satya’s portals saved her at the last second. No one was getting any shots in as they two kept going at it, but the slight show kept the crowd interested, Lucio’s skates leaving trails of light from the sheer speed and Satya’s hellfire skin and arm and her portal leaving bursts of hell fire red in her wake.

“I have… a terrible feeling,” Ana muttered as they watched the two go round and around.

“Why?” Lord Hanzo asked.

“Reinhardt and Amelie were tampered with, their equipment and probably their beings… it looks like that witch took Satya’s arm… in what other ways did Moira butcher her?”

The two traded almost hit blow after almost hit blow for several minutes. When it seemed like the battle’s victory would be determined by sheer exhaustion, Lucio rounded the edge of the arena again and--

Satya shouted something and spread her arms, throwing something in the process. A device hit the ground and suddenly an energy field snapped into existence, trapping Lucio into an extremely small bit of the arena. When he shot at it, his sound wave bullet shattered upon hitting the demonic red energy. But when Satya lifted her own hard light gun and shot, the bullet passed through and almost hit Lucio’s left skate. The once balanced game of near hits and misses suddenly turned into a game of Lucio frantically moving however far he could as Satya coldly advanced with her gun raised and taking shots at him.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” Ana chanted.

Satya was less than a foot from the shield and leisurely aiming, toying with Lucio with cold dead eyes and a blank expression. All seemed lost for a moment… until a few eagle-eyed people could make out Lucio’s shaking grin and his hands going down to some bulky parts of armor on the outside of the armor at his thighs.

“Wait…”

The armor split open and two barbed whips came out, Lucio quickly hooking them to mounts on his wristbands that had seemed like oddly shaped armor until now. He threw them up, the barbs catching on the top of the force field. Satya watched as Lucio propelled himself up the side of her force field, sparks rushing up from his skates and the energy field colliding. All the way to the top--

And sailing over the edge, Lucio coming down skates first--

And landing on top of Satya who collapsed underneath the sudden falling weight. Using one of his skates, Lucio pinned Satya’s metal arm to the ground and aimed his gun at her head.

“Yield.”

Being mindless, of course she could not. She started thrashing and trying to escape. So with an obviously pained look, Lucio brought the heel of his gun up and then down on Satya’s temple, rendering her unconscious and in a compliant mess on the ground.

“ _Winner! Lucio!_ ”

Lucio was immediately so fretful over having to knock Satya unconsciousness, that someone else in the crowd yelled if he was going to claim his prize.

“ _He will get his prize for his win… right Moira?_ ”

Zenyatta appeared ominously behind Moira when she stood there seething quietly for several moments. For a moment, the black magic witch seemed like she would actually put up a fight or even argue. Zenyatta’s eyes just glowed a brighter green in response, the orbs levitating around their neck starting to glow with his eyes. And again, a cold lifeless konstruct with ten thousand souls would in fact trump Moira in every way… so she sighed and snapped her fingers.

Lucio was already carrying Satya out of the arena, carrying Satya as she expelled the corruption from her body, leaving a trail of smoke behind them as Lucio rushed her to Ana’s waiting aid.

* * *

Mercy and Zenyatta’s fight was next. Ana needed the time to look over three newly returned from the dead. Thankfully Mako Kahn was eager to show off Zenyatta and gladly delayed her and Sombra’s fight once again. Now that their team had a chance to relax, they could worry over their ally instead, watching the arena with nervous anticipation as the next fight started.

Zenyatta trailed into the arena, hovering above the ground. The high Outworld sunlight glinted off his metallic shell and made the bright green light almost oozing out of the eye holes in his blank metallic face and drifting off the orbs surrounding his neck almost surreally horrifying. 

Unlike the other kombatants that tried to show off with movement flair, Zenyatta simply floated to his spot. And then once there, started oozing more and more green energy.

“We are many, embraced by the Iris. Embrace the Iris with us.”

His metallic voice rang clearly through the arena and the crowd went dead silent. For such a voice to project like that and the energy oozing off of him… what manner on constructed creature was Zenyatta?

Mercy also floated out from the Netherrealm team door. The metallic wings and her features of once pure white energy that once fueled her healing abilities were now warped and twisted black metal and feathers made out of violent red energy. A devilish angel from the hellfire of Netherrealms, a crown of fire circling around her head of burnt yellow hair. In one hand she held her staff, in the other she gripped a rather standard pistol.

“ _Zenyatta versus Mercy. Round one, FIGHT!_ ”

No one was really sure what to expect. Neither of these two were fighters, known more for their healing abilities. Actually, neither of them had much in terms of fighting skills or movement speed either, Mercy armed with a rather dinky pistol and her metal wings at best and Zenyatta pretty much bound to floating and his spheres hardly seemed deadly in the slightest.

“Don’t get trousers in a pinch, mates,” Junkrat said, scaring everyone watching the fight and making several of the Earthrealm team wonder how the hell he got there. “You see, I found ol Zen in the rough from Moira’s junk. She had this great idea to get this thing that could suck up souls, but the ol cunt sucks nads at engineering and ditched it. So I took that idea and made it real.”

“What did you make, Junkrat?” Lord Hanzo asked.

“I made Zenyatta, mate. A walkin’, talkin’ soul jar that sucks up wayward souls… I think he achieved Nirvana but who the fuck knows?”

“I’m sorry, you made a robot... That achieved Nirvana?!”

Junkrat cackled and shrugged his shoulders casually.

Mercy lifted up her pistol and started shooting. Zenyatta’s orbs simply jumped into action, moving faster than most eyes could catch and took the bullets or zipped around in a circle around Zenyatta fast enough to send the bullet flying off in a different direction. Regardless of this sudden turn, Mercy kept shooting until she emptied her clip.

Comically, she looked down at her empty pistol, and then back at Zenyatta. His orbs were slowing down, the surfaces glowing red hot from the spray of bullet deflecting.

“Our apologies, it is our turn to attack. Please prepare yourself, my queen.”

Zenyetta lifted one of his hands and na orb eagerly hopped to hover just above his palm. Zenyatta looked over at the orb for a moment, before drawing back his metallic arm and snapping it forward with inhuman strength and speed. The orb screamed through the air and struck one of Angela’s wings with enough force to bend the metal. Angela gasped, hellfire eyes turning to look at her dented wing as the orb zipped back to Zenyatta, who calmly held out one hand for the orb to land back into its original position.

“We highly suggest fleeing, my queen.”

And flee she did. Angela’s wings snapped out and she took flight as Zenyatta started his deadly assault against her. Her wings left red streaks of energy through the air as she avoided the deadly aimed orbs. The crowd ‘oohed’ and ‘awed’ at show, watching with utter fascination as Angela tried her damnedest to avoid the deadly projectiles. Her banshee wails filtered through the air as the orbs whistled closer and closer to her, nearly hitting.

“He knows not to kill her, right?!” Ana yelled.

“What? Yeah, course,” Junkrat said, fiddling with his metallic arm as he sat on the railing.

“It certainly doesn’t seem like it, rat man!”

“Yeah, yeah… Oi! Zen! Ya know not to kill her, right?”

“Of course. She is an innocent. However she is being difficult and our attempts to harmlessly incapacitate are being trumped,” Zenyatta hummed.

An orb landed and Mercy screeched as the metal orb crashed into the back of one of her knees with a disturbing amount of force and speed. Zenyatta gasped almost cutely surprised despite the horrifying situation, as Angela feel and clutched her leg as banshee wails escaped her chest.

“ZENYATTA!” Junkrat yelled.

“Our deepest apologies!”

Zenyatta quickly floated over to where Angela was prone on the floor, placing one finger against Angela’s head and held her down that way to avoid bothering her probably broken kneecap.

“ _Zenyatta wins! Flawless Victory!_ ”

“We request medical assistance and Angela’s soul back, please!” Zenyatta called over the sudden roar of the crowd.

Moira looked like she was going to put up a fight… only for one of Zenyatta’s orbs to scream through the air and embedded itself into the stone of the railing she was leaning on with a rather disturbingly loud crunch. She scowled and snapped her fingers.

Ana and two arena attendants with a stretcher came out as Angela began expelling the corruption within herself. She had to be strapped down to avoid harming herself further as they quickly carried her out of the arena.

* * *

Ana and Sombra’s fight was next, but thankfully Zenyatta could take over for her to allow Ana to focus on her fight. Apparently when they were not being used as deadly projectiles, Zenyatta’s orbs could radiate gentle healing magic for brief bursts. So the very strange and very mildly surreally terrifying konstruct could sit in the backroom with his orbs rotating between the still mindless returned Earthrealm warriors while Ana entered the arena.

“I am going to end this quick,” Ana said as she loaded her gun.

“How?” Jack asked her.

“Just you wait. Very quickly.”

Jack watched Ana load up her gun before checking the strength of her hijab to make sure that it would not go flying off without a fight.

“I have more important things to do then to fight with an undead youngster with a damned Uzi and teleporting abilities. I’m old and at this point in the matches, I am too stressed to deal with a full on fight,” Ana grumbled, muttering a quick ‘thank you’ when Fareeha handed her several more bobby pins for her hijab.

When she was ready, she strode out there with her rifle leaned on her chest and her hands folded neatly over her stomach.

Sombra came mechanically walking out. The once purple of her outfit and being from her Chaosrealm magic now turned a hellfire red, orange and yellow melting rainbow. She made it to her spot and stood there quite still and quite ready to fight.

“ _Ghost versus Sombra, round one, FIGHT!_ ”

Sombra looked ready to throw her first teleporting device.

“Nap time!”

Sombra stumbled, hunching over slightly, before slowly turning her dead eyes to look at the rather large needle dart in her arm that had just finished ejecting the contents into her body. She pulled it out, looking at it rather confused like before falling to her face, paralyzed and laying stiff on the ground. Ana rushed over and gathered both her wrists in her hands. And just… held her.

“ _Ghost wins! Flawless Victory!_ ”

The crowd had a rather loud mixed reaction, though most everyone heard Mako Kahn just laughing his giant ass off from his seat. Moira was slumped over the railing from her booth, not needed anyone to remind her what she needed to do, quite defeated at this point. She snapped her fingers as Mako Kahn kept howling with laughter.

“A woman my age should be sipping drinks, reading books on the porch and complaining about my joints,” Ana grumbled as she threw Sombra over one shoulder and started carrying her back to Earthrealm’s room, Sombra vomiting up corruption as they walked. “Really. What was I thinking?”

The crowd continued to have mixed reactions as Mako Kahn laughed and Moira kept laying like a defeated sad corpse over the railing of her booth.

* * *

McCree and Torbjorn’s fight.

“The fate of Torbjorn is in a cowboy… from the eighteen hundreds…” Genji groaned into his hands, emotionally spent after so many exciting matches.

“Mako Kahn speaks nothing but praise for McCree’s skills in kombat and his deadly aim. And being an immortal like him through unknown means…”

“That was me too!” Junkrat cackled from the little spot on the railing that he had claimed as his seat. “Just a bit of biological hackin’ through magic. His agin’ is just way slowed down. Very much human. Despite me many attempts to spruce him up. No Tarkatan DNA, the mutations would have been killer. But no. No Omnic upgrades either! Boring!”

“Hmm… I wonder if McCree would be amicable to perhaps helping out Earthrealm on the occasion…” Lord Hanzo muttered.

“He wants koin for his work.”

“Nevermind then.”

McCree came out first, with an insufferable slow swaggering walk, appearing as though he had all the time in the world to get to his spot. The crowd still went mad at the sight of him, the Outworld citizens ever eager to cheer on one of their own and knowing his skills better than any of the Earthrealm team. When he got to his spot, McCree casually took out one of his pistols, giving it an expert flick of his wrist to snap out the bullet barrel, casually look at the gleaming bullets, before flicking his wrist and snapping it back. His expression was hidden by his trademark bandana, but he nonchalantly tipped his hat back just a bit by the rim with his gun. Based on the crinkle of his eyes, McCree was no doubt smiling.

Torbjorn marched out, carrying a collapsed turret underneath one of his arms--

“Not him too,” Ana muttered.

One of Torbjorn’s arms had been replaced with a metallic replacement. A demonic, craggily black metal claw like hand that Torbjorn beat against the turret to make it uncollapse and pop up, aiming its sights at Erron.

“ _Jesse McCree versus Torbjorn, round one, FIGHT!_ ”

The turret started firing just as Jesse started. Each bullet collided with one another mid-air and landing in warped metal chunks on the ground. Everyone watched as Jesse matched the firing output of a goddamn man made turret. The seemingly lack of activity that had everyone’s jaw hanging loosely because… a human man was pulling the trigger of his guns just as fast as a turret.

But Jesse’s gun had a limit. Something that everyone found when he rolled out of the way, whisking his serape out of the way to reveal the vials hanging off his belt. He took two silver ones and tossed them at Torbjorn and his turret and then rolled again. The two silver vials hit the ground and a thick cloud went up. With the two blinded, Jesse quickly reloaded and rolled around before aiming at the cloud and started firing again.

As the cloud cleared, the crowd got to see Torbjorn’s bullet ridden armor and a few lava colored bloody lines from grazes across his cheeks and arm.

“Damn, was hopin’ that there was somethin’ deep down,” McCree drawled.

He took two more vials, these bright and unsettling green color sloshing around the glass. He tossed one at the turret before it could require him as a target. The glass hit and shattered and with a very loud hiss, the turret started melting. Torbjorn got distracted by his turret melting so McCree threw the next vial at his arm. Just like the turret, the glass shattered and splattered the content, making the arm start to melt.

“Might want to ditch that arm if you’re not fittin’ to lose more!” McCree called out.

“DON’T YOU DARE!” Moira yelled from the stands.

“Well damn, just for that…”

McCree threw another two smoke bombs. But instead of shooting or dodging… he rolled into the mass. The crowd collectively silenced itself as they waited to see what would happen. Would McCree succeed in whatever the hell he was doing or would Torbjorn lash out?

A shot rang out.

“No!”

Mako Kahn waved his hand at their booth and Genji leapt up. He waved his arm and sent a mild gust through the arena, clearing the cloud of smoke and--

McCree stood there with a smoldering bolt sticking out of a Tarkatan blade sticking out of his forearm. Torbjorn lay unconscious on the ground and his metallic arm severed just above where the acid had been eating it. Smirking, McCree lifted his arm and sheathed the blade, the natural weaponry disappearing within the flesh as the man nonchalantly picked up the hat that Genji’s gust of wind had knocked off.

“I thought…”

“I didn’t do shit. Moira did that botch job years and years ago! And the DNA never mixed, it’s just this arm that attached and does nothing else then be… this fucked up Tarkatan arm!” Junkrat practically whined.

“ _Winner! Jesse McCree!_ ”

“... Outworld is fucking weird,” Jack muttered as Moira screamed primally from her booth but released Torbjorn’s soul.

* * *

The fateful event, the one that had apparently drawn most of the crowd. The rivalry that had started twenty years ago and had burned hot as Netherrealm fire without stop for those two decades.

Sub-Zero versus Scorpion.

“I wish you luck and will pray to the Elder Gods for you,” Lord Hanzo muttered as Jack checked his gear over for the last time.

“They’ve never listened before, Lord Hanzo. I doubt that’ll change now,” Jack said simply before pausing and sighing. “I’m sorry. I appreciate the thought.”

“You will succeed,” Lord Hanzo said.

“Did you see it?”

“No. I know you is all. You will succeed, Jack Morrison. Fight well.”

Feeling a flush from the praise from the god, Jack nodded before straightening himself up and then walking out into the Outworld sun cooking the stage.

The crowd roared over him. Deciding to put on a show just for them and to cool his body off before the Outworld sun could affect him or his powers, Jack formed growing ice underneath his feet and the ground around him. Ice spikes quickly formed and shot up, forming deadly spines of cold that oozed cold vapour as they stood underneath the heat of the sun. Using his powers cooled his own internal body temperature down thankfully as well.

Gabriel came out the other door, Netherealm fire already blooming off him like nightmarish flowers. The ground that he walked along left footprints that still burned and smoked. That chain was in his hands and burning as well--

The spear whistled through the air, Jack not flinching as it flew past his cheek, his mask saving his face from a cut of the sharpened metal that was red hot from Gabriel’s powers. Jack’s eyes narrowed as Gabriel yanked the spear back, the dip in his brow suggesting that he was not happy that Jack had not flinched at scare tactic, drawing the length of chain back as Mako yelled at him for starting too early.

Jack felt his heart hammering away against the inside of his ribcage. The fateful fight that he had not been looking forward too but had dreamt about for years. How would he attempt to break through all the years of hate that Gabriel had likely built up at the poison that Moira hissed into his ear? How would he break through Scorpion and get Gabriel Reyes back?

“ _Scorpion versus Sub-Zero, round one. Fight!_ ”

Jack threw up an ice shield just in time to avoid the fire burst that Gabriel had been building up. He did not see it, but he imagined that Gabriel looked like a black skeleton wrapped in fire before said fire spread like a fire blossom that spread like a forest fire. It struck his shield full force and started melting it hard and fast. Jack had to reinforce it as the fire kept hitting his shield over and over as Gabriel unleashed what seemed like endless waves of Netherrealm fire.

“... Gabriel!” Jack yelled, deciding now was better than never, especially if Gabriel was just trying to kill him with fire. “Gabe!”

That did something, the fire stopping dead and not even half a second later, Gabriel busting through his shield with fire pouring from his eyes, his brow carved in rage. Jack threw up another shield as the chained kunai came slashing at him, fueled by Gabriel’s rage as he tried to slash him to death.

“Gabe!” Jack yelled as he just kept slashing at him with fire building against, likely ready to explode again. “Listen to me!”

“SHUT UP, TRAITOR!” Gabriel yelled, flinging the chain. The spear was aimed at his forehead and Jack ducked down enough for the spear for the metal to skim his temple instead. The skin split and blood started dripping down the side of his face, thankfully avoiding his eye for the moment.

“Gabriel fucking Reyes, you listen to me!” Jack yelled back, “Stubborn jackass!”

Gabriel came at him again and he was forced to defend himself. He used summoned ice weapons to repel attacks that were shattered with the force of Gabriel’s attacks or weakened or almost completely melted by Gabriel’s fire. He felt the strain of summoning so much ice so quickly and the feeling of Gabriel’s strikes making his arms burn like fuck.

“Gabriel listen to me! Moira is lying to you!”

“I’m not listening to the person that murdered my family!” Gabriel shot back.

“Why would I want to kill them?! I wanted you to be my family! I wanted them to be my family through you! Why would I do that to you?!”

“ **SILENCE.** ”

“No! Not until I get through that thick skull of yours!”

Gabriel came at him again and he was forced to retaliate with the same amount of force to prevent himself from getting pushed back. Ice and fire clashed time and time again, sending half melted ice and steam everywhere. 

The crowd was practically foaming at the mouth at the sight of them actually fighting with such intensity. All other fights had obviously been Earthrealm to knock out Netherrealm opponents and Netherrealm brainwashed opponents trying to mechanically kill Earthrealm opponents. But this? This was fire and heat and danger and no one knew what the opponents were going to end up trying to do. Scorpion was obviously trying to viciously kill Sub-Zero and Sub-Zero looked further and further like he was just trying to survive. Heat and hellfire and rage, the arena blasted with icy cold air and hellfire hot air in intervals.

This was true Mortal Kombat.

* * *

“Gabe-urk!” Jack wheezed as the chain tightened even more. Even with his arm preventing it from outright choking it, the pressure was enough to silence him, cutting him off. Fearfully, he turned his gaze to Gabriel as smoke started wafting off of him from the sheer heat building up within him. The chain was following suit and Jack had to freeze his neck to keep the burns at bay.

Gabriel was quiet for a moment, before he frowned and then gritted his teeth. A tremor of momentary terror rocked his body as flames started burning on Gabriel and the ground around him through sheer heat.

“ **GET OVER HERE!** ”

The chain was yanked and Jack was yanked across the arena, skipping across stone. Realizing what Gabriel would likely do to him if he got close, Jack reached into himself and just unleashed a giant burst of power from within himself. The floor of the arena turned to ice and when Jack hit the ground agian, he fell through.

He swung around, coming up in a swinging arch out from the ice again. The chain, completely frozen, shattered when Jack pulled on it mid-air. Now free, Jack summoned a war hammer made from ice and threw his weight down, coming down like a meteorite on Gabriel. Gabriel started to summon fire and started to produce steam when Jack slammed down on him, his war hammer connecting with Gabriel’s head and the two hit the ground hard, shattering the ice around them. It shot up into the air as a brilliant, shimmering shower of crushed ice crystals, the crowd gasping from the spectacle before them. The two warriors on the ground, Scorpion’s pale wraith eyes wide in stunned shock, Jack’s brow furrowed and his own pale cryomancer eyes staring with deadly determination. The shimmering ice that threw a few hundred colors reflections everywhere.

And then something that could have only been a hellfire storm consumed the arena and sent the first rows of spectors scrambling out of the way as fire licked the stands. When the fire quickly died down, the crowd looked back to the arena and found a slightly burnt Sub-Zero staring down a hunched over Scorpion.

“Come on, Gabe, think! Who would benefit if both our clans were killed? Who would benefit if you suddenly worked for them?” Jack huffed as he stared Gabriel down. “Me? What the fuck would I gain from taking down the family of the man I love? Do I benefit from you working for Moira? Think, Gabe! You’re smarter than this! You’re better than this!”

The fire that had been consuming the stage started dying down as Gabriel’s face went from so sure of all of his rage and all of his anger to… to being not so sure. The wall that had kept them apart was crumbling with all the holes Jack had been trying to peck through it, light was creeping through. Jack was getting through the bullshit that Moira had built between them.

“WHO’S USING YOU RIGHT NOW, GABRIEL REYES?!”

Gabriel’s lips pulled back over his teeth and what he said next was lost in the roar of the excited crowd. Of the sound of their own ragged heartbeats, of their own strained breathing, of their own roaring blood. But his lips and teeth formed the word that Jack was looking for.

_Moira._

“The man I know and love wouldn’t let himself get played like a fool, like a tool. Who are you? Scorpion? Or Gabriel Reyes?” Jack said.

They stared each other down for a moment, the air tense as Jack waited for Gabriel to choose to suddenly re enforce the walls that Moira had built around them or finish breaking them down. Further down the rabbit hole and likely hitting the bottom or… would Gabriel Reyes finally break free--

Gabriel suddenly dashing across the stage. The suddenness would normally not be a problem. But the shock that Gabriel would put those walls back up. That he really had not gotten through to the man. That after all that they had been through, all the shit that Jack had done just to get this one chance… and Gabriel was…

He did not want to defend himself.

Gabriel got in close and--

\--Grabbed Jack’s hands and put them around his own throat.

“Get me my soul back and tell me more after.”

No time to react. Jack threw his weight forward and pinned Gabriel to the ground. Gabriel did not fight it, going down easy, hard eyes still trained as Jack as they lay there on the ground before lazily raising one of his hands. Giving up.

“ _Are you yielding, Scorpion?_ ” Mako Kahn’s voice filtered through the noise of the crowd as it lost its collective shit over the turn of events.

Gabriel nodded.

“ _Victory, Sub-Zero wins!_ ”

Jack immediately got up, hauling Gabriel to his feet. When Gabriel swatted his hands away, he bit back the hurt and disappointment, assuring himself that all would not be forgiven so suddenly. But if this was Gabriel shedding Scorpion, reclaiming the humanity that Moira ripped away from him, then it was a step forward. And after so many years of feeling like he was gathering dust in a corner, rotting in one place, Jack would take it.

“Moira! Give Earthream their prize!” Gabriel yelled up at the stands.

Moira, who was positively livid at this point, managed to turn more red with rage. In fact it looked like she was going from blood red back to her usual pale skin tone just out of sheer inhuman rage. Jack idly hoped she popped several blood vessels. 

“ _You heard them, Moira,_ ” Mako Kahn chuckled.

They saw Moira’s mouth moving feverishly, probably trying to weasel out of giving Gabriel back his soul. A lying thief to the end, it would seem. But based on the still very bored posture of Mako Kahn, the big Outworlder was not having it. And after several minutes of listening to her, simply raised his voice to filter through and deafen even the crowd.

“ _Are you going against the rules of kombat? Are you saying that you will not heed the tournament? The rules of Mortal Kombat?!_ ”

He was playing it up for the crowd. And the crowd was eating it up, howling ‘boos!’ and cutting words at Moira from where she was seated, all alone because she had lost over and over and over again. She paled, turning most ghostly white then her usual skin tone as she realized that she was in a bind. If she went against the rules of Mortal Kombat, Mako Kahn could evoke the Elder Gods to bring down fiery hellish wrath upon her head. And no one, not a single goddamn soul, would come to her aid. The freed people that she had once kept the souls of were glaring at her with tired bit fire filled eyes, almost daring her to do it. The crowd called her to yield or face judgement. Mako Kahn simply waited patiently for her response, not caring either way.

Moira had lost.

And damn did it feel good.

Moira looked like she was winding up to do something… and then sighed. She summoned something bright green to her hands and then snapped her fingers.

Gabriel fell to his knees, wheezing and hacking violently. Jack was there, digging the destroyed remains of his mask off to clear the way as the same thing that happened with the Revenants happened to him. All of the black magic inside of him, all the smoke and Netherrealm fire escaped from between his lips in the form of heavy, smoky black smog. Jack did what he could, smacking Gabriel’s back to help knock all that gross shit from his lungs as Gabriel wheezed and hacked with force.

Part way into the wheezing, Gabriel’s eyes opened and a milky white substance started dripping free from his eyes. It took several of these strange tears to see that the milky haze over Gabriel’s eyes were clearing, slowly but surely revealing the warm brown eyes underneath that Jack had missed so much.

As the Revenant corruption cleared, much like the others, time rolled forward on Gabriel too. Jack pulled back Gabriel hood to see it happen. Grey started to streak Gabriel’s curling hair and his still blood stained beard, shiny and silvery against the dark browns and black that made up his hair. Age lines started to crease his face. His features thinned out just a bit, as they would with the passing years. He looked less like a ghost trapped in the same bitter and past time. He looked… like Jack was hoping that he looked had tragedy not struck.

“ _I think it’s safe to say that Earthrealm has won? Wouldn’t you say?!_ ”

The crowd went mad around them, cheering wildly as Jack got Gabriel’s arm up and around his shoulder. Gabriel huffed but leaned on him as Jack got them off the stage and to the worried team on the side waiting for them.

“ _Netherrealm has lost! Now, sorceress, I suggest leaving before my hospitality wears out._ ”

Back in the small room, the entirety of the Earthrealm team and those that they saved were waiting for him. But unlike the crowd outside that threatened to deafen them… it was quiet here. 

No one said a word as Jack heaved Gabriel over to a bench to lay down and let Zenyatta attach an orb to him to let him heal. No one said a word as Jack sat down on another bench to tiredly take off the remains of his destroyed mask and just let all his tense and battle hurt muscles ring with the rush of adrenaline. Not even the brother gods said anything.

There was just the sound of breathing and the distant roar of the crowd.

Victory was quiet.

* * *

Moira fled, though no one was surprised. But without her ill gotten warriors, everyone knew she posed almost no threat. When they recovered from all that had happened, they could go get her. For now… they had won.

“A clean sweep,” Mako Kahn said as they all sat in a room in his palace. “Earthrealm could not ask for a better victory.”

It was cooler now, Outworld’s hot sun having set a few minutes ago, and the sky was darkening outside. Everyone was exhausted at this point, those that fought still trying to regain their strength from the fight and those that had been saved still regaining their natural strength that Moira’s black magic had replaced and made their bodies reliant on. Most everyone was laying down on cushions provided by their gracious host, the only ones standing at this point being Hanzo and Genji, the two gods still trying to work out the anxiety and jitters from being forced to watch the fights without helping.

Zenyatta was sweeping his orbs between people in small bursts. McCree was on the balcony attached to the room and smoking with Torbjorn. Angela was sitting off to the side, her mechanical wings tucked up tight and just… staring at the floor and looking like the physical manifestation of a shattered mirror. All those that were once dead were getting caught up in short whispers from those that saved them. It was a… shaking and unstable feeling in the air. Everyone was so achingly delicate after it all.

“Our… our many thanks for aiding us in this, Mako Kahn,” Hanzo said, obviously at a loss for words. “I… cannot express the magnitude of my gratitude for this…”

Mako Kahn scoffed softly.

“I look forward to our continued alliance. My reign on Outworld shall last a very long time.”

“I wish you many and bountiful years, great Mako Kahn,” Hanzo smiled, bowing to the man and getting one in return.

“Stay the night if you wish. You have all earned your rest for the eve. Though be warned, we’ll be partying pretty hard outside.”

Not even the Kombat Kids looked up for that, and Mako Kahn just chuckled knowingly before leaving. His sorcerer was waiting by the door, grinning eagerly at the prospect of the celebrations likely occurring outside. He giggled manically when Mako Kahn paused as he passed to pat his head before beckoning his manic little friend to join him outside.

“You comin’?” Junkrat yelled at McCree before following.

“Nah, I’ll hang out here for a bit,” McCree said.

Junkrat shrugged and followed out, leaving them all to keep processing what happened.

Jack looked to the side where Gabriel was sitting away from everyone. He was staring dejectedly at the floor, eyes dark and hazed over. After a moment, Jack pressed against his bruised side and forced himself up, doing the painful shuffle over towards him, stopping a few feet shy because he was… aware of the miles between them.

“...Can I talk with you?”

“That a wise idea, Sub-Zero?” Gabriel said, no gruff, no fluff, no fire.

“... I’m sorry Gabe.”

“What are you sorry about.... You didn’t kill anyone, apparently. You didn’t lose your shit. You didn’t fuck up.”

“Gabe, you were being used--”

“You said it yourself. Should have been smarter, should have been better…” Gabriel muttered.

“You’re human. You can’t be perfect to stop everything. Moira knew your weak spot and attacked it. She knew what would make you get angry enough to make mistakes. Your grief and anger were exploited, Gabe. I will never and would never be mad or judge you about this… I want you to come home.”

“What home do I have… the Shirai-Ryu are dead. The fire is gone.”

“You’re alive. The fire burns on… Grandmaster Reyes.”

That seemed to startle the man, turning up tired eyes to look at Jack with an achingly soft, open and vulnerable expression. After being nothing but angry and used and fighting for so long… Reyes could rest and it was finally breaking through the fog of unprocessed everything mucking up his mind. And hearing it from someone else that it could be done might have given the words a bit more weight to punch through.

“Hell, I’ll introduce you to Grandmaster Zhou, get an alliance penned down and help you start recruiting right away.”

“Wait, you’re not Grandmaster?” Gabriel asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

Jack snorted and sat down to Gabriel so they could talk like the past twenty some odd years had never happened.

“Well, you see, the past twenty years I’ve been training to find you to get you home…”

* * *

There were a lot of broken pieces to pick up, let alone trying to figure out where they all went or how to even guess at how they were going to be glued back together After so much death, after so much fighting, after all had been thought dead and lost for so long, a lot of people just wanted rest and to go home.

Angela decided to stay in Mako’s court as an advisor, for the time being. Mako Kahn said that having a queen from old times would not only look good, but since she was such a brilliant and skilled woman, she would be a great advisor and wisdom bearer. Since it had been so long since she had her own free will or even been truly alive, Angela felt like it was simply the best place for her at the present moment. If she found something better, she would work things out with Mako Kahn. Also in Outworld, who had had centuries of warriors that fought in kombat, they would have the resources to look after her. And given her ancient blood, she would live long enough to heal and have peace of mind.

The Special Forces people were going home to rest and recover, all enrolled in therapy at Ana’s request. Ana immediately retired Reinhardt and Torbjorn on the spot and the two gentlemen went along with it, just wanting to go home at this point and fight no longer. Torbjorn was especially happy at the thought of seeing Brigette again, having only seen a wee baby before he died. Reinhardt was overjoyed at being with Ana again, the big guy understandably sobbing into Ana’s shoulder while slumped on the floor as Ana pet his hair and assured him all was well. Amélie, having been Moira’s sleeper agent, was beyond distraught and would need ample time to heal. Ana also retired her from her Special Forces position on the spot and assured the distraught woman that they would get her help and that no one would hold her past deeds against her. To further prove the point, Gabriel offered her a hug, something that seemed to sooth Amélie as she bursted into tears that broke her from emotional apathy.

Satya was picked up by a Orderrealm envoy not too long after the end of the tournament and the celebrations, Mako Kahn having called them not long after the party. The pristine warriors assured them that they would look after her and see to her recovery both physically and mentally. Ana spoke with them a bit, testing waters about potentially repairing Orderrealm and Earthrealm relations, which had been shattered when Satya had been list. From what everyone else got from a tldr, they did not say ‘yes’ to a future alliance but they also did not say ‘no’. So everyone was a bit hopeful on that front.

As for the rest of them…

“So you’re really going to rebuild the Shirai-Ryu?” Ana asked as they all got ready to leave Outworld and head back to Earthrealm. Gear was being packed up as a portal was being summoned by Junkrat that would remain open long enough to haul everything through.

“Yeah it… it’ll be good for me, after all this,” Gabriel sighed. He sounded as tired as he looked. There was still a bit of blood on his lips from his fight with Jack and bruises that were started to blossom with strength against his dark skin.

“Yeah, I think it will for you,” Ana smiled softly. “Does that mean that you two…”

“Not after what he’s been through,” Jack said quickly, “Right now we’re focused on putting the pieces back together.”

“I understand… well Grandmaster Reyes, I would love to speak of an alliance between Special Forces and the newly rebuilt Shirai-Ryu when you think it best.”

Gabriel nodded and Ana went to help Lucio start packing up his gear. Jack was about to go offer help to those lugging armor and weapons back when a gentle hand bumping against his arm stopped him. Just a soft brush of skin against skin. But it had sent something of a shock through Jack’s system and made him almost turn a bit too quickly. It was Gabriel, looking softly at the ground and avoiding eye contact with him.

“Not now… but maybe one day.”

“... Gabe…”

“I… I still love you, Jackie… One day I wanna go forward and not be stuck in what was and what could have been,” Gabriel said quietly.

“... I still love you too, Gabe. I’ve waited twenty years for you, I trained twenty years just to get your back. I’ll keep waiting as long as you need.”

Gabriel smiled softly and Jack felt like everything was going to be okay.

* * *

Some time later…

* * *

“Grandmaster Zhou!”

Mei grinned brightly at the Kombat Kids rushing her, putting up her arms and welcoming the tackling group hug that she easily kept from falling over. The kids clamored over her, having not seen the Lin Kuei grandmaster for some time and wanting to catch up. Her youth had made him rather close friends with the group, despite her maturity and status as grandmaster.

“Greetings, grandmaster Zhou,” Ana smiled as she finally caught up.

“It’s good to see you, Commander! How are you?” Grandmaster Zhou grinned as she settled the Kombat Kids down.

“Tired. I’m training someone to take over for me so I can retire,” Ana smiled as she bowed properly before Mei.

“Oh?” Grandmaster Zhou grinned, eyes already settling on Fareeha.

“Guilty as charged. I’m so excited,” Fareeha beamed. “I’m gonna make my mom so proud!”

“You will, my dear, there is no doubt in my mind,” Ana grinned before fluffing Fareeha’s hair.

“Oh! How are they?” Lena chimed in.

“They’re both here, do you want to see them?” Mei smiled.

“Yeah!”

Mei lead them through the Lin Kuei temple with the Special Forces visitors eagerly trailed behind her. She lead them to an inner courtyard within the temple and there? Two men were fighting.

Fire and ice lashed against one another, sending shards, melted ice and smoke everywhere and every which way. Blows were traded, blocked, missed.

“Hey wait!”

The two stopped. Gabriel Reyes, wearing some thicker and fur lined training gear, curiously cocked his head at the sudden audience. Jack Morrison, wearing much lighter training gear, turned to look at their audience with slight curiosity as well, confused at the sudden shout.

“They’re just training, my dear,” Mei smiled. Lena (the one who had shouted), blushed in shame.

“Hey kids,” Gabriel greeted, standing straight and stretching with a groan.

“Uncle Gabe!” Fareeha chimed, dashing across the courtyard to throw herself at the man that had been her uncle in her youth. Gabriel grunted at the force of Fareeha hitting him, wrapping his arms around her and chuckling fondly, outright laughing when she wrapped her arms around him and easily lifted him off his feet.

“Hey boys!” Ana grinned as the kombat kids approached the two.

“Hey Ana,” Jack grinned.

“You look like you’ve actually slept recently,” Ana smirked as she approached Jack.

“I have… I don’t recommend it, nasty stuff,” Jack drawled out sarcastically before chuckling when Ana popped his shoulder.

“How are things with the Shirai-Ryu and Lin Kuei being allies?”

“Good. Shirai-Ryu recruitment has gone rather smoothly. Gabe insists on recruiting only Earthrealmers, so his pool is kind of thin but he’s always been ‘quality over quantity’ sort of man anyway. The transition has been a little rough for the Lin Kuei to accept the Shirai-Ryu as allies but we’re working through it.”

Ana smiled as Fareeha started teasing Gabriel about his greying curls of hair. Lucio and Lena were slightly emboldened by Fareeha’s attitude, approaching Gabriel a little closer. They had known him for so many years as the hellbound, vengeance seeking wraith so the transition into ‘tired but generally friendly Grandmaster of the Shirai-Ryu’ was something to behold.

“How are things between you two?”

“Eh? We train and sometimes cross train students, schedules are full to bursting--”

“On a personal level, I mean.”

Jack shrugged.

“We have a lot to work through before we get there, Ana. Gabriel spent so many years hating me, thinking that I had killed his family, destroyed his reason for living. Twenty years of those kinds of emotions are hard to get rid of, even more so the ghosts of them. We need time to get back to where we were when we were young, dumb, stupid and in love. But for now we are friends… and that’s more then even for me, for now.”

“I see… I hope you get there, one day, Jack. I wanted to attend the wedding back then as I do now.”

“We’ll get there if and or when we get there, Ana. Right now, Gabe needs to heal and put himself back together. We all need a break from the past twenty years.”

“Yeah… we do.”

They two looked on fondly at the sight of Gabriel laughing at something Lena said.

Wanting to give Jack and Gabriel back their privacy, Grandmaster Zhou called for the kombat kids to check out some of the new recruits and a few new Shirai-Ryu students that had followed their grandmaster through. Ever eager to meet new allies, especially those that were around their age, they scurried off and left Jack and Gabriel alone once again within the courtyard.

“Always nice to see the kids,” Jack smiled.

“Yeah… damn Fareeha got big.”

“And jacked, Elder Gods be damned.”

Gabriel laughed.

“Wanna get back to training?”

“Hmm… actually, real quick Jackie, come here.”

Jack walked over to Gabriel, cocking a pale eyebrow at the mischievously smirking Gabriel. When he stood barely a foot from the man, Gabriel gently reached out and cupped the sides of his face. The gentle touch was a surprise, one that made Jack’s eyes pop. Even more so when Gabriel tugged him forward and kissed his nose. When he was let go, Jack felt his face frosting over with his sudden emotional spike.

“Gabe?”

“Nothing. Just wanted to kiss the boyfriend.”

Gabriel turned on his heel and started casually walking into the temple. Jack was lost for a second, enjoying the memory of the cute little kiss, so much so that it took several seconds for Gabriel’s words to sink in.

“Gabe?!” Jack squeaked, running after Gabriel. “Wait! No come back and repeat that!”

Gabriel laughed and dashed away, grinning broadly over his shoulder at Jack that was chasing after him and smirking himself.

* * *

Bonus smut scene.

* * *

After a hard day of training at the Shirai-Ryu temple, Jack was surprised when Gabriel got him into his room and started kissing him.

“Training got you going, huh?” Jack chuckled between kisses.

“Hmm,” Gabriel hummed, stopping to pull back and grin, “Nah. You’re just hot.”

“You’re a giant ass nerd, you know that?” Jack laughed.

Gabriel grinned brightly before returning to kissing him, Jack throwing his arms around the man. Gabriel’s body was hot against his and his cryomancy naturally cooled his body down to even them out. Gabriel hummed against his mouth, smiling into the kiss as he felt Jack’s body cool, before pressing closer, hands settling on Jack’s hips and squeeze tightly.

They parted to strip out of their training gear, tossing it aside to be taken care of later. Right now they just really wanted to love on one another.

“You know what I’m glad hasn’t changed over all these years?” Gabriel grinned when they had stripped down and started padding barefoot over to the bed.

“Hmm?”

“Your cute flat ass,” Gabriel grinned, lightly smacking Jack’s butt.

“Jackass,” Jack laughed.

“I still love it too,” Gabriel grinned, grabbing as much as he could from what little was there.

“Balance babe, you got the muscular curves and I got all muscular angles,” Jack snarked, grabbing Gabriel’s ass in retort.

Gabriel laughed before kissing Jack, pressing Jack close. Jack’s hands slid to Gabriel’s firm muscular waist, squeezing the warm skin, before sliding a leg up between Gabriel’s legs and grind against him. Feeling Gabriel warm and wet for him already stoked both Jack’s ego, lust and his love for Gabriel. Even after all these years and the brutal beating of time, even after all that they had been through, Gabriel still got so hot and bothered over _him_. And Elder Gods be damned, he loved Gabriel with every inch of his being.

“Hmm, you’re the hot one.”

“Jackie-boo… was that a fucking pun?”

“Is now.”

Gabriel laughed loudly, his grin bright and brilliant and so achingly handsome that Jack felt himself actually flush hard enough for ice to form on his face. He gruffed when Gabriel smiled sweetly at him before following the shove that Gabriel gave that put him on his back on the bed, legs dangling off as he looked at Gabriel before him. Starting to blush with lust and all that perfect body on display. Jack wanted to run his mouth and hands over every inch and pour all his love into every touch.

“See something you like?”

“You. Elder Gods, Gabe, how the hell are you still so fucking perfect after all this time?”

Gabriel blushed outright, smiling goofily shy, before leaning forward to put his hands on Jack’s thighs and gently spread them.

“I can ask you the same, lover boy,” Gabriel purred.

Gabriel’s mouth was hot as it pressed against Jack’s throat, pressing a tender kiss to the skin before taking a little itty bit taste with the tip of his tongue. Then he pressed another kiss downwards at the base of his throat, taking a more bold taste and gently scraping just the barest hint of his teeth against Jack’s skin. Then another, a hotter kiss that made Jack’s body respond by growing colder so that when Gabriel’s tongue came out, a small bit of steam escaped. The next kiss, just above his heart, hissed softly and made them both moan softly.

All the way down, slow kisses and swipes of his tongue, along his pecs and the scars underneath of them, down along his belly, along the lines of his hips. And then down his thighs, hitting his knees and moving up.

“Gabe… please…”

“Just for you, Jackie,” Gabriel grinned before kissing the wiry white hair just below Jack’s belly. “Wait, real quick. How are you on being touched? Same as before?”

“Yeah. All good for anything, just nothing quick.”

And then another kiss on the rise of Jack’s pubic mound. The next kiss had Jack’s back bowing off the bed and let out a long strangled sigh. Gabriel took a hold of Jack’s hips, keeping the man from bucking a little too hard, as he took to gently and slowly kissing and licking along Jack.

As Jack’s body spiked in lust, his core grew very, very cold. While the meeting of Gabriel’s very hot tongue touching Jack’s soaked body did not hiss as some of their other kisses, there was a definite amount of steam rising. There was also a fair bit of water that was getting mixed with Jack’s cum, Gabriel tasting it as Jack’s taste soaked his mouth.

 _Actually making steam_ , Gabriel would have laughed if he were not busy doing something far more important.

“Gabe… I wanna switch...” Jack panted.

Gabriel reluctantly pulled away, loudly smacking and licking his lips to get Jack to blush another layer of frost on his face. Grinning, Gabriel got on the bed next to him, grunting in surprise when Jack immediately flopped on him to kiss him eagerly, not bothered by the taste of himself on Gabriel’s mouth or how wet their kiss got from the difference in temperature of their mouths. Just intent on sucking the air from his lungs, only pulling away to catch his own breath and breathe out a long stream of icy cold air, before going back into it with just as much passion that had Gabriel moaning softly against the other man’s mouth.

When Jack was apparently done kissing, he started his way down, kissing and mouthing at Gabriel’s jaw, neck and shoulders first. Gabriel gently cupped the back of Jack’s head, moaning periodically as Jack’s mouth pressed colder and colder kisses to his hot skin. Occasionally a cold tongue or cold teeth would taste his skin and make him roll and buck his hips up towards Jack for stimulation. Something that Jack denied him, squirming down to mouth along his chest and belly, kissing his scars like he had done for the other man, stopping to lovingly kiss along the scars he had underneath his own pecs. Downwards and downwards.

Jack seemed to love the curves of his muscles, getting lost in the kisses and revenet tastes and touches along them. The way that his hands touched and savored and squeezed softly. Really made Gabriel blush hard. It had been over twenty years since he had been touched, and that had been a younger Jack. Twenty years was a lot of time to spend not getting touched in any way that was to not inflict pain or kill someone and Gabriel felt the waves of touch starvation be fulfilled as Jack just… touched him. So lovingly, so sweetly so… him.

“Uh… still the same as before?” Jacka asked between his thighs, icy cold air breathing out on Gabriel’s junk.

“Yeah, thanks for asking,” Gabriel said.

Jack grinned before kissing his belly button, peppering kissing down the thick and black hair dowards before pressing a kiss directly to him. His tongue came out and Gabriel breathed a rather color explicative. His fingers messaged through Jack’s silver hair idly as Jack dragged along him, circling around him and making him flush and grow hard with blood. He felt himself grow very hot and wet underneath where Jack’s tongue was tasting him, feeling his thighs clench hard with want. When Jack took him between his lips, Gabriel lost control for a second and bucked against Jack’s mouth. Jack just grinned around him, one hand tenderly holding one thigh and the other soothing along his other hip. And just took his bucking.

Gabriel bucked, rolling what he could against Jack’s tongue and moaning when Jack sealed his lips as best he could and sucked heartily. His fingers kept working through Jack’s hair lovingly, encouraging Jack to keep tasting him, sucking on him, drawing more moans and groan out of him and taking his bucking hips, working his mouth more and more to rush him to his peak as pleasure flooded his system. It had been too long--

He came on Jack’s tongue, shuddering and gasping through the throes of hot, syrupy pleasure that ran down his spine as his thighs clenched and his toes curled and he felt himself shudder deeply as he came. Jack worked him through it, sucking heartily and licking aggressively until Gabriel was shaking with overstimulation, finally pulling away to lick his lips loudly and with a broad shit eating grin.

“Damn,” Gabriel sighed, still feeling the shakes.

“You have fun?” Jack asked.

“Yeah. Want me to do you now?”

“Hell yeah.”

“Well come up here, I want you to ride my face.”

“You sure, old man?”

“Want me to suck your dick or not?!” Gabriel laughed.

Jack carefully got into position, both of them changing to be further up the bed so that Jack could lean his weight against the wall instead of just trying to sit on Gabriel’s face. When he was in place, Jack leaned his weight against the wall and carefully lowered himself onto Gabriel’s waiting tongue and mouth. When he thought he was good, Gabriel grabbed his thin hips and pulled him down just a bit more.

The first hot touch nearly made Jack jump up and off. Gabriel pet his hips until he settled, lowering himself to first let Gabriel breath against him, ‘warm’ him up so to speak, until he could lower himself again. When Gabriel’s tongue lapped at him again, it dragged a ragged gasp from Jack’s mouth. His hands settled Gabriel’s on his hips, twisting his hands until he could twine their fingers and hold Gabriel’s hands as his lover’s mouth stoked his metaphorical flames.

“Gabriel,” Jack breathed.

Gabriel hummed against him and made him moan loudly. That hot tongue danced around him, never straying somewhere for too long, taking his time to taste and map him. Slipping around him and down to where he was leaking, tasting the edge of his hole, before trailing upwards again. Jack shuddered from the slow movements, rolling his hips against Gabriel’s mouth again and panting a bit louder. When Gabriel paused to take him between his lips and suck softly, Jack banged his forehead against the wall trying to fold himself in half.

“You okay?” Gabriel asked, pulling away just enough to ask.

“You’re mouth is fucking black magic,” Jack panted, the little bit of pain in his forehead nothing compared to the heat still radiating off of Gabriel’s mouth and how he was clenching with need.

“Just like good ol’ times, eh boo?” Gabriel grinned.

“I still remember creative uses of ice dildos,” Jack laughed breathlessly.

“Hey, if you want to do that, just let me know,” Gabriel grinned wickedly.

“Riding your face isn’t kinky enough for our old asses?” Jack laughed.

“So you don’t want me to suck your dick while you fuck yourself with a chunk of ice?”

“... Shut up.”

Jack got off and laid on his back, spreading his thighs to make room for Gabriel. Gabriel, face flushed and his mouth very wet, grinned as Jack summoned a mildly sized vaguely phallic shaped chunk of ice. He shuddered as he slipped his arm between him and rubbed it against himself. It hardly felt icy cold against his naturally cold body and the thought of being filled with it made his belly flutter. The past twenty years had been very, very quick and light masturbation sessions to just kill the need. So doing this, with the man he had ached for, for so long, was making Jack’s heart race.

He started slow. It had been… a long time, after all. Just breaching himself, slipping it in and trying to not wince at the almost foreign feeling of the slight stretch. Okay, too eager, he slimmed the ice a bit to make it easier on himself, sighing when the stretch lessened to a tolerable degree. Gabriel watched him rampantly, licking his lips as he watched Jack ease the tip of the ice inside of him, stretch himself just a bit. Just a bit more, just a bit more a little bit more and more.

“You’re so handsome, Jackie,” Gabriel sighed softly, “Damn, still get all hot and bothered over you.”

Jack eased more inside of himself and shudder deeply. The pressure, though foreign, was not unpleasant and Jack slowly started to ease it in and out in increasing small increments. When he had a rhythm built up, Gabriel decided then to start using his mouth again. Threw him off for only a moment before he was going back at it, but faster because fuck he was getting there quick now with Gabriel’s hot mouth on him.

They got into a steady rhythm, Jack’s hand moving and Gabriel’s mouth moving on him. One of Gabriel’s hands settled on his stomach, gently petting, drawing idle nothings and rubbing comforting circles into the skin. Jack actually got comfortable, getting lost in pleasure and the heat and just the soothing presence of Gabriel.

“You with me?”

Jack cracked open his eyes and saw Gabriel looking at him from between his thighs, smiling softly and looking so achingly handsome.

“Yeah, sorry did I fade off?”

“Just a little. But you did that back then too. Want me to hurry up and finish you off?”

“Yeah.”

Gabriel took hold of the chunk of ice, grinning when it hissed in his hand, before sealing his mouth over Jack and sucking as he started working his hand. A raw gasp escaped Jack’s mouth, hands going to grab Gabriel’s shoulders and holding on tight as the man quickly worked him to his peak, kept him there with a sly grin for several moments and just working his hand. And then throwing him off it that had Jack’s back bowing in a way that his back had not been able to move in years and all sound getting trapped in his throat as he contracted and squeezed down and felt his pleasure crackle and explode down the length of his spine.

And then he was loose and languid in bed, the ice melted from the heat of Gabriel’s hand and what little heat his body produced.

“Don’t know if this is just a coincidence or…”

Jack cracked open his eyes and started cracking up at the sight of jagged ice spikes growing on Gabriel’s shoulders where he grabbed them. They thankfully were easy to get rid of, the two of them giggling dumbly. Said giggling only got worse when Jack realized that he had frozen the bedsheets underneath of him. That was easy to get rid of too.

“A nice bath and then some much needed snuggling?” Gabriel asked as he pulled Jack to his wobbling feet and started nosing softly against his face and neck.

“Hell yeah.”

They got up to get into the bath, getting it drawn and then getting into a playful bit of bickering over wither it was too hot or too cold, before getting in and cuddling close. They curled up against one another. Jack pressed his face into Gabriel's neck, smiling as Gabriel's fingers rubbed against his back, rubbing firm circles between his shoulderblades. A long and relived sigh escaped Jack as he melted against his lover.

"... Hey Jack?"

"Yeah, Gabe?"

"I love you... I'm glad you waited for me."

"I love you too, and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat."


End file.
